Help with GetListItems and SPComplexToSimpleDropdown

I know this can be done but I can't seem to piece it together. I would like to customize a copy of my NewForm so that when a value is selected from a particular dropdown list that value would be looked up in a related list and a couple of additional
values would be returned and used as the default values for a couple of fields. So here's a quick outline:

1. Main form (maintenance request) has dropdown called Tools and the values for this field come from a different list called Tool_List located in the same site.

2. The Tool_List has Title, Owner, and Manager fields. The Manager and Owner fields are people fields.

Ideally, when a user selects a value from the Tool dropdown (onchange event) the GetListItem code would execute and return the associated Owner and Manager values. The Owner and Manager values would then be used in the maintenance request form to default
it's Assigned To and Manager field values.

I've looked at a lot of examples on this site and I think I'm close but I'm not sure how to execute the code on the Tool dropdown's onchange event. Also, to further complicate things my Tool dropdown exceeds 20 items so I think I should be using the
SPComplexToComplex service to make things easier but I can seem to get it to work. Or I can't tell if it's working so maybe it's working but my onchange isn't. I'm not getting any errors but none of my test alerts are firing either.

I'm very new to writing scripting code and this is my 2nd attempt at using the jquery and SPServices library so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I did look through the documentation so hopefully I didn't miss something completely obvious.

I have been able to get the SPDisplayRelatedInfo to work on another form so I know my references to both the jquery and SPServices libraries are working.

This kind of thing is always tough to debug from afar, of course, because I can't see the underlying data structures. You should get familiar with the debugging tools in Firebug and the IE Developer Tools. Because the dropdown has 20+ values, it will only
render as a complex dropdown in IE, so you have to use the Developer tools to some degree.

My guess is that where you're getting stuck is setting the People Pickers. I have a new function in v0.7.2 (currently an alpha) that can help:
SPFindPeoplePicker. Each type of SharePoint control has it's own unique markup and in quite a few cases, script to drieve it as well. People Pickers are one of the more complex controls. I don't see your setFieldValue function, but it's probably not setting
the People Pickers right.

Thanks for the quick response. Apparently, I’m further from getting this to work than I thought. I never even wrote the setFieldValue function! I just thought it was a function that was part of the jquery library. I need more help than I realized.

So does it make sense what I’m trying to do? Also, the SPFindPeoplePicker looks like it would be really helpful. Below are my thoughts on how to do this. Looking for some feedback to see if this makes sense.

1.Use the SPComplexToSimpleDropdown to convert my dropdown to simple dropdown. Is this necessary and the best approach? The dropdown field is called Tool2 and it’s a lookup
column from my Tool_list (Title field).

2.When the user selects a value from the Tool2 dropdown use the GetListItems to look up the Owner and Manager values from the Tool_List. Do I need to use the SPFindPeoplePicker
for this? The Tool_List columns are Title, Owner, and Manager. The Title is a text field, and the owner & manager fields are people fields.

3.Write a setFieldValue function and use the SPFindPeoplePicker to find the Assigned To and Manager fields on my NewForm then set the values for these fields to the Owner and
Manager values I retrieved using the GetListItems.

I did see a similar discussion to what I’m trying to do but they were using the SPDisplayRelatedInfo (http://spservices.codeplex.com/discussions/216134). In that post you suggested that they
use the GetListItem instead so that’s what I’m trying to do.

It's all good. This is my first time really writing code in SharePoint outside of some very minor tweaks. I realize I'm stumbling in the dark right now!

I have made some progress so I think I'm getting closer. I've got the following working but I'm having trouble with getting the selected value from the dropdown after changing it from a Complex to a Simple type.

Hey - I've made a ton of progress on this but I need a little help on one part. I can't seem to populate the Manager field (people picker field type) using the SPFindPeoplePicker. Not sure what I'm missing. Everything up to that point in the code is working
great.

This should find the first people picker whose display name is 'Manager', and set it to the value of the string-variable, manager. In reality, this jquery searches for the tr element that has 'Manager' in it, and normally this tr element has two td elements.
Inside the first td element it has an h3 element, then lastly a nobr whose innerHTML has the display name , unless you manually changed that nobr HTML in a custom form (whew!). I believe the string-variable, manager, should just contain the person's name
in this format LastName, FirstName MiddleInitial(if applicable).